


Unconventional Domesticity

by songofdefiance



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Dishonored 2, F/F, Flirting, Gen, Prompt Fill, Set During Dishonored 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 04:37:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12809790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/songofdefiance/pseuds/songofdefiance
Summary: Emily shrugged.  “I was going to go for a swim.  Haven’t had a bath in a few days.”“Do that,” Meagan said, wrinkling her nose.“Do public indecency charges extend to out here?”Alexandria almost choked on her fig.





	Unconventional Domesticity

**Author's Note:**

> For this prompt: "The woes of being Hypatia while living on the Dreadful Wale with the, ah, lively Emily and Billie. :B"
> 
> I loved this one so fucking much.

On Alexandria’s second day aboard the Dreadful Wale, she walked into what could only be described as a conundrum.

She’d only wanted breakfast - she found that she actually had an appetite, for the first time in months - and, to that end, she’d made her way to the galley after catching her breath from her latest round of nightmares.  She did her best to ignore the lingering images, instead focusing on getting to her destination.  

Meagan Foster, who wielded a tough exterior but seemed to have some hidden layer of kindness, was standing in the galley with a cross look on her face.  Emily, meanwhile, was standing at the sink, snickering as she flicked soap suds at Meagan.

“Are you done?” Meagan asked.

“I’m done washing the dishes, if that’s what you mean.”

Meagan rolled her eyes, but didn’t actually seem that annoyed.  Emily, meanwhile, turned back to the sink and drained it, stacking the last of the clean dishes on the side.  She grabbed one of the towels and started drying, humming to herself as she did so.

Alexandria, meanwhile, stood frozen in the doorway.  It was such a  _strange_ scene, to see the Empress of the Isles doing the dishes.  Emily Kaldwin had seemed calm and serious when Alexandria first met her (granted, she’d just found a cure for her ‘illness’, if that’s what it could be called), but she was showing a more lighthearted side of herself now.  Alexandria couldn’t help but feel like she was intruding.

Meagan, at least, didn’t seem to mind.  “Morning,” she said, nodding at Alexandria, not appearing to notice the befuddled look on her face.  “We’ve got bread and a couple figs, if you’re hungry.  I need to go to the market later.”

“Oh hey, that reminds me,” Emily said, pausing her drying.  “I found a few… trinkets while I was at Addermire.  You want to take those with you, see if you can get anything out of them?”

And once again, Alexandria found herself confused.  Had the Empress just implied that she had  _stolen_  - ?

“Void only knows where you put it all,” Meagan muttered.  “But yeah, I’m sure I can find a use for them.  Where did you leave them?”

“My cabin, on the desk next to my journal.”

Meagan exited the galley, leaving Alexandria alone with Emily.  She hesitantly made her way over to the counter, where (as promised) a loaf of bread and a few figs were laid out.  Emily continued humming while she dried the dishes, glancing over at Alexandria and sending her a small smile.

“How are you feeling today?” she asked.  “Any better?”

“…somewhat,” Alexandria answered.  “I still find myself having nightmares.  And I… I still don’t entirely understand.”  She shook her head.  “I’m not sure I  _want_ to understand.”

Emily paused.  “Do you want me to tell you?”

Alexandria was shaking her head before she even really thought about it.  “No, no.  I’m sure it’ll all work out on its own.”

Emily nodded.  “Alright.”

They were silent after that, the only sounds coming from the occasional squeak that the towel made against the dishes.  Meagan re-entered a moment later, tucking something that Alexandria couldn’t see into a satchel.  

“I’m heading to the shore,” she said.  “Hopefully I’ll be able to get to the market before the rush starts.  Alexandria, do you need anything?”

Alexandria stood quickly, swallowing the last of her fig.  “I was actually hoping I might come along.  I doubt the Duke will be actively looking for me right now, and I’ll have to go back to the city eventually.  I have a few friends who live by the docks that I’d like to visit.”

Meagan shrugged.  “Meet me at the skiff when you’re ready, then.  No, Emily, you can’t come too.”

Emily shrugged.  “I was going to go for a swim.  Haven’t had a bath in a few days.”

“Do that,” Meagan said, wrinkling her nose.

“Do public indecency charges extend to out here?”

Alexandria almost choked on her fig.

Meagan, meanwhile, didn’t so much as blink.  Instead, she met Emily’s challenging gaze, and the feeling that Alexandria had before - the feeling that she was intruding on something - spiked.

“No,” Meagan finally said.  “They don’t.”

“Good,” Emily said, her tone suddenly business-like.  “Bathing while clothed isn’t very efficient.”

She swept from the room with all the propriety that Alexandria would expect to see from the Empress of the Isles, except Alexandria was pretty sure that it wasn’t proper for a noblewoman to swing her hips like that.  She glanced at Meagan, only to find the other woman staring after Emily.

Alexandria coughed.  Meagan shook herself.

“Just…”  Meagan sighed.  “Meet me at the skiff.”

* * *

By the end of that week, Alexandria would go so far as to call Meagan and Emily her friends.  She was able to have comfortable conversations with one or both of them, and she found herself enjoying their company.  She felt the need to retreat to her temporary cabin less and less, and her nightmares started to lessen somewhat.

There were, however, still moments where Alexandria would walk into a conversation between the two, turn around, and walk straight out again.  She wasn’t sure how to describe the intimacy the two seemed to share (there was definitely flirting, but some of it seemed like more), only that it was easy for her to pick up on.  The two weren’t sleeping together as far as she knew, but… that almost would’ve been less strange.

It was one such moment that Alexandria intruded on when she came up to the deck in the late evening.  The two were talking quietly at the railing, each holding a glass of what Alexandria suspected to be Meagan’s rum, their voices low.  

She had just pivoted, prepared to go back to her cabin and listen to some music, when Emily’s voice rang out from behind her.  

“Dr. Hypatia!  Come join us.”

Alexandria turned around, almost jumping when she found Emily right in front of her.  The Empress pressed a half-full glass into her hands, which Alexandria took out of confusion more than anything else.

“I’ll go get another for myself,” Emily said, brushing past her.  Alexandria turned to Meagan, who shrugged at her.

“She’s a bit drunk right now,” Meagan said.  “Lightweight.”

“…right.”  Alexandria took a tiny sip of the run, wrinkling her nose at the taste.  Though she could hold her drink (was even somewhat notorious for it, back when she was younger), she didn’t particularly enjoy the taste of alcohol.  “And you?”

Meagan snorted.  “Give me  _some_ credit.”

Alexandria had no doubt that Meagan was good at holding her drink, though people did still sometimes surprise her in that regard.  She opted to stand on Meagan’s other side, feeling reluctant to take Emily’s place by the railing.  The lights of Karnaca were spread out before them.  It always amazed Alexandria how beautiful the city could look from a distance.

“Thank you for having me,” Alexandria said.  “I know it’s probably dangerous to have more than one guest aboard, especially when one of your guests is…”

She trailed off, even now reluctant to say it out loud.  Meagan, meanwhile, just shrugged.

“You needed a place to stay that wasn’t Addermire,” Meagan said.  She frowned down at her rum.  “I understand that better than you might think.”

That made Alexandria give her a curious look, wondering what Meagan had done (or what had been done to her) that made her want to get away from somewhere.  She knew better than to pry, though, and left Meagan to her secrets.

Heavier-than-normal footsteps signaled Emily’s return, and she leaned on the railing a bit more than she perhaps needed to.  Alexandria looked away when Emily leaned over and kissed Meagan on the cheek, giving her the kind of besotted smile that Alexandria almost believed was because of her drunkenness.  

“Ooookay,” Meagan said, though she didn’t lean away.  “I think you’ve had enough.”

She neatly plucked the glass out of Emily’s hands, heading back below with Emily trailing behind her, complaining.  Alexandria shook her head with a small smile, opting to stay up on the deck for a few more minutes.  

It was nice to know, in a world that didn’t make sense any more, that there were still moments like these.


End file.
